BMJ 2001;322:1133-1134 ( 12 May )

Editorials

TB in Leicester: out of control, or just one of those things?

Recent increases in tuberculosis in the UK reflect a global problem

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Last year in England and Wales 235 schoolchildren aged 5-14 were notified with tuberculosis. Most will not have been infectious---for example, those with tuberculous lymphadenitis---but some of the 148 children with pulmonary tuberculosis will have been smear positive and potential sources of infection. For each of these children local tuberculosis services will have searched for linked cases by screening household members and other close contacts, including those at school.1

Evidence of transmission of infection from a child index case in a school to other children is not often found1---but outbreaks in schools do occur. Although adults, usually staff, are often the source of infection, schoolchildren have also been reported.2-6 The essential element in these outbreaks is an infectious patient whose illness may have been undiagnosed for a long period. Local environmental circumstances and the opportunity to expose many people also contribute to the scale of an outbreak.

What therefore should . . . [Full text of this article]


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to StumbleUpon StumbleUpon   Add to Technorati Technorati    What's this?

Relevant Article

Extensively drug resistant tuberculosis
Stephen D Lawn and Robert Wilkinson
BMJ 2006 333: 559-560. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]

This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Fathoala, B, Evans, M R, Campbell, I A, Sastry, J, Alfaham, M (2006). Active surveillance for tuberculosis in Wales: 1996-2003. Arch. Dis. Child. 91: 900-904 [Abstract] [Full text]  
  • Lawn, S. D, Wilkinson, R. (2006). Extensively drug resistant tuberculosis. BMJ 333: 559-560 [Full text]  
  • Davies, P D O (2004). Molecular epidemiology unmasks the tubercle bacillus: new techniques reveal new aspects of virulence. Thorax 59: 273-274 [Full text]  
  • Davies, P D O (2003). The challenge of tuberculosis. JRSM 96: 262-265 [Full text]  
  • Davies, P.D.O. (2002). A European framework for effective tuberculosis control. Eur Respir J 19: 590-592 [Full text]  
  • Davies, P (2002). Diagnosing TB. Thorax 57: 281-281 [Full text]  

Rapid Responses:

Read all Rapid Responses

Leicester TB outbreak
Peter Davies
bmj.com, 16 May 2001 [Full text]
Look for the elderly carrier
B C Rao
bmj.com, 16 May 2001 [Full text]



Access jobs at BMJ Careers
Whats new online at Student 

BMJ